Electrum is among the oldest and most well-known mobile and desktop bitcoin wallets. But can an app that’s 12 years old compete with new wallets, or is it too old? What can Electrum do, though? In this Electrum review, you will not only find out!
Electrum review at a glance
Since 2011, Electrum has been a decentralized Bitcoin wallet that can be used on smartphones and desktop computers. The wallet is quick, easy to use, and reliable, but its old-fashioned look doesn’t win over many people.
Electrum is a non-custodial wallet, which means that your bitcoins (or private keys) are encrypted and stored directly on your phone or computer. This is a big advantage over custodial wallets, where you give your cryptocurrency to a custodian in a different country who can steal or lose it.
Through the app, you can make as many wallets as you want that let you send and receive bitcoins. If you already have a wallet, you can use a seed or private key to add it to the app.
Electrum works with all types of Bitcoin addresses and wallets (standard HD, multi-signature, and watch-only) and lets you send bitcoins through the Lightning Network.
Advantages:
- Non-custodial wallet
- Transparent (open-source)
- Supports multi-sig wallets
- Lightning Network support
- Czech translation
Disadvantages:
- It only supports BTC
- Outdated design
- Czech is not complete
ELECTRUM – Basic Information
Electrum is a popular open-source Bitcoin wallet software that was first released in 2011. It was created by Thomas Voegtlin and has since become one of the most widely used Bitcoin wallets, thanks to its robust security features and user-friendly interface.
Some basic information about Electrum includes:
- Electrum is a desktop wallet, which means it is installed on a computer rather than being accessed through a website or mobile app.
- It is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems.
- Electrum is a lightweight wallet, which means it doesn’t require users to download the entire Bitcoin blockchain in order to use it. Instead, it connects to a remote server to access blockchain information.
- It offers support for multi-signature transactions, hardware wallet integration, and two-factor authentication.
- Electrum supports the creation of multiple wallets within a single installation, allowing users to manage different Bitcoin addresses and transactions separately.
- The wallet’s seed phrase is a set of 12 words that can be used to recover access to the wallet if the computer or device it is installed on is lost or stolen.
- Electrum is open-source software, which means anyone can view and contribute to its source code on GitHub.
- Electrum has an active community of users and developers who regularly contribute to its development and offer support to users.
Overall, Electrum is a reliable and secure Bitcoin wallet that is suitable for both new and experienced users. Its flexibility and features make it a popular choice among Bitcoin enthusiasts.
Electrum cryptocurrency wallet
Electrum is a Bitcoin wallet that works on both mobile devices and computers. Using the app, you can receive, send, or store bitcoins on classic or multi-signature wallets. You can’t buy or sell bitcoins through the app.
The app doesn’t need you to sign up or verify your identity (KYC), so you can use it without anyone knowing who you are.
How Electrum works
Through the app, you can make as many bitcoin wallets as you want. There are 4 types, which are:
- Classic wallet (Standard wallet) – This is a standard HD wallet that can be used to receive or send bitcoins. The wallet has one seed, or main key, which is used to make other private keys and addresses.
- Multi-signature wallet – A wallet that has multiple master keys. In order to send bitcoins from this wallet, you need to know a certain number of keys – for example, 2 of 3 (2-of-3 wallet) or 3 of 4 (3-of-4 wallet) (3-of-4 wallet). The multi-sig wallet can be used as a shared wallet (everyone has the same key) or as a more secure individual wallet (you store each key on a different device).
- 2FA wallet – Multisignature 2-of-3 wallet (you need to know 2 of the 3 keys to send a transaction) (you need to know 2 3 keys to send a transaction). You have two keys on you: one in the Electrum app and one in the Google Authenticator app. The third key is stored on a remote server, and you can request the signing of the transaction by email. TrustedCoin is in charge of the service.
- Watch-only wallet – Users can see how much money is in the wallet, but they can’t spend it. It can be used, for example, to keep an eye on a hardware wallet. Click the button Import Bitcoin addresses or private keys and copy the public key (address) from your wallet into the text field to make a watch-only wallet.
WALLET BACKUP
You must immediately back up the wallets that you create through the application. When you back up, you write down a recovery phrase or seed. If you lose your phone or damage it, you can use the seed to get your wallet back. But if you lose even the seed, you’ll never be able to get back the bitcoins you stored.
IMPORTING A WALLET
If you already have a bitcoin wallet, you can import it into the app by using seed. You can also move bitcoins from a paper wallet into the app by using a private key to import them.
The good news is that Electrum works with all three types of Bitcoin addresses: bech32, P2SH, and P2PKH. So, it’s impossible for the app to show you only part of the balance (like for example the wallets Trust Wallet or Coinbase Wallet, which only supports selected formats of Bitcoin addresses).
LIGHTNING NETWORK
It’s important to know that Electrum works with the Lightning Network for payments. But the developers say that LN support is just a test, so people shouldn’t put a lot of money in the lightning wallet.
Is the app safe?
The Electrum wallet was made in 2011, which makes it one of the oldest and most well-known Bitcoin wallets ever made.
From the point of view of security, Electrum has three main benefits:
- Since Electrum is open-source software, its source code can be seen by anyone. Every programmer can check how the app works, how it handles sensitive data, and if it has any critical mistakes.
- A password is needed to get into the app so that no one else can get to the bitcoins (for example, a finder or a thief). You can also lock the wallet with a PIN or 2FA.
- Electrum is a self-custody wallet, which means that the person who gave you the wallet doesn’t have access to the bitcoins you put in it. Bitcoins (or private keys) are encrypted and stored directly on the user’s phone or computer. This means that the user is the only one who is responsible for them.
Custodial wallets are the opposite of self-custodial wallets (cryptocurrencies are held by an administrator). Custodial wallets are easy to use, but users have to trust that the custodian won’t lose, steal, or block their cryptocurrency. A stock exchange account is a typical example of a custodial wallet.
Fees in the Electrum app
- Network Fee – If you send BTC from your Electrum wallet to another address, you will pay a fee to the miners. The fee is part of the Bitcoin network and will not be charged to any wallet. You can adjust the size of the fee before sending each transaction.
- Fee for bitcoin swap – You pay a service fee (approx. 0.5%) + network fee (see above) for the transfer of bitcoins between a classic and lightning wallet.
Experience with Electrum wallet
The main advantage of the Electrum wallet is its long history and transparent source code. You will also be happy with the support for the Lightning Network and multi-sig wallets, easy use, and Czech translation. But Czech isn’t a full language, so users need to know at least the basics of English.
Our experience with the Electrum wallet is mostly positive. There were a few things we didn’t like, like how long it took to import, how old the design was, and how hard it was to open the payment channel for LN, but payments were fine. And that’s the main thing.
Even though it passed the test, the wallet didn’t really impress us. There are a lot of non-custodial bitcoin wallets, and some of them caught our attention more than others. For example, BlueWallet or SamouraiWallet.
- Blue Wallet – modern design, completely in Czech, Lightning Network support.
- Samourai Wallet – in English, focused on anonymity (includes a bitcoin mixer) (includes a bitcoin mixer).
Electrum Review Summary
If you want a trustworthy and clear Bitcoin wallet, Electrum will not let you down.
The app offers good security and a number of features that other bitcoin wallets don’t have (such as multi-sig wallets or LN). But we are still talking about an online wallet, so the seed and private keys are not separated from the Internet and may be vulnerable to hackers or viruses.
Mobile wallets are suitable for storing smaller amounts that you want to always have at hand. Use more secure hardware wallets to store larger amounts of cryptocurrency.
And who is not a good fit for Electrum?
Only Bitcoin is the focus of Electrum. So, if you want a wallet that can store altcoins, dApps, NFTs, and other cool things, you’ll like the Trust Wallet or Coinomi apps.
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